Organizations such as on-line retailers, Internet service providers, search providers, financial institutions, universities, and other computing-intensive organizations often conduct computer operations from large scale computing facilities. Such computing facilities house and accommodate a large amount of server, network, and computer equipment to process, store, and exchange data as needed to carry out an organization's operations. Typically, a computer room of a computing facility includes many computing racks, which may include server racks. Each computing rack, in turn, may include many computer systems, servers, associated computer equipment, etc.
Because the computer room of a computing facility may contain a large number of servers, a large amount of electrical power may be required to operate the facility. In addition, the electrical power is distributed to a large number of locations spread throughout the computer room (e.g., many racks spaced from one another, and many servers in each rack). Usually, a facility receives a power feed at a relatively high voltage. This power feed is stepped down to a lower voltage (e.g., 208V). A network of cabling, bus bars, power connectors, and power distribution units, is used to deliver the power at the lower voltage to numerous specific components in the facility.
The amount of computing capacity needed for any given data center may change rapidly as business needs dictate. Most often, there is a need for increased computing capacity at a location. Initially providing computing capacity in a data center, or expanding the existing capacity of a data center (in the form of additional servers, for example), is resource-intensive and may take many months to implement. Substantial time and resources are typically required to design and build a data center (or expansion thereof), lay cables, install racks, enclosures, and cooling systems to implement waste heat removal therefrom. Additional time and resources are typically needed to conduct inspections and obtain certifications and approvals, such as for electrical and HVAC systems.
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean including, but not limited to.